Lifelong companions, fellow road warriors and his editors at OC Weekly shared heartfelt speeches; his oncologist passionately conveyed infuriation at falling short of healing him. Much of Silversun Pickups stood reverently while a slideshow presented his strongest shots. KROQ’s Kat Corbett drove out to host. Industry people I only ever see in L.A. headed south to pay respects.

Perched at the edge of a booth in the center of the room, Andrew introduced two of his favorite bands, Big Black Delta and Nightmare Air, and graciously received hundreds of well-wishers in a sort of living wake. We all knew the end was near, and last Saturday it came: the daytime pharmacist who remodeled himself into a music journalist called Amateur Chemist, the noted rock photographer who many people learned about through his brave column Last Shot – the pro I was honored to consider a friend – has died at 38 after a valiant two-year-plus battle against cancer.

Anthony Gonzalez's French accent is hardly noticeable in song, but his foreign origins shone brightly during his first address to the audience Sunday night at the Hollywood Bowl.

“We are so excited and nervous,” he exclaimed, “and we’ve got a ton of surprises for you and a ton of special guests.”

His accent made that sentence less fluid than it reads, though it was accompanied by a beaming grin that probably outdid any Emmy winners’ smiles earlier in the evening just down the road.

Gonzalez basked in the moment, proud of where his career had taken him – and it was hard not to be on his side throughout the performance, which was backed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, conducted this night by Joe Trapanese, M83's collaborator on the recent score for Oblivion.

•Country Megaticket: Got a spare $600 and planning on seeing country stars galore this year? Your deal of deals just dropped via this four-show package, enabling you to buy ahead of each event's general on-sale date.

What do you get? Two shows at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Luke Bryan on Aug. 10 and Rascal Flatts on Sept. 14, as well as two more at San Manuel Amphitheater: Tim McGraw on June 8 (his 12th album Two Lanes of Freedom arrives next week) and Brad Paisley on Aug. 24 (his 9th, Wheelhouse, spins in April).

Six bills too steep? How about lawn for $125? Parking is included in either assortment. Country Megatickets become available Friday at 10 a.m., though pre-sales for Citi members and more start Wednesday.

• The Hollywood Bowl: Initial details of the venerable venue's 92nd season were revealed Tuesday morning, and as always there are several gems in the schedule, this time including ...

Jack White wails away at Gibson Amphitheatre. Photo: David Hall, for the Register. Click for more.

To fall back on an easy cliché, the difference between Night 1 and Night 2 was, well, night and day.

Saturday's first half of KROQ's 23rd annual Almost Acoustic Christmas weekend played out exactly like the schizophrenic mess it looked like on paper, a sampler from the Mojave tent at Coachella followed by an amped-up Weenie Roast finale from the turn of the millennium. The lack of quality heavier acts to flesh out that lineup underscores indie rock's rampant trendiness, the copycat overload of which is sure to cause a backlash soon enough with those itching for another Korn or System of a Down to surface.

Indeed, there were so many ragtag baby bands in the mix with crossover stars from the no-longer-fringe scene that this takeover of Gibson Amphitheatre was all out of whack. But to have aligned it less randomly would have led to Sunday's better bash lasting nine-plus hours when it already ran a full seven, thanks to a not-so-surprising set from No Doubt tucked in between turns from fun. and Jack White.

What changed was fan enthusiasm. Given Night 2's continuity, stretching from fresh favorites like Grouplove to headlining mainstay the Killers, people wanted to see it all – and accordingly arrived early. Kickoff band Imagine Dragons were playing to a nearly full house by the time the Vegas quartet finished at 5:30, whereas the first five bands on Saturday couldn't seem to draw half the crowd at best, playing to many empty seats.

Chester Bennington and Dave Farrell of Linkin Park at Home Depot Center. Photo: Kelly A. Swift, for the Register

In case you weren't listening this morning: Linkin Park and Rise Against will close out the first half of KROQ's yearly Almost Acoustic Christmas shows at Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk, while the Killers and Jack White will finish off the pair of benefit concerts the next night.

Tickets for the 23rd annual event, slated for Dec. 8-9, go on sale Friday, Nov. 16, at noon. Prices start at $79.75 and top out at $150.

The choice of Linkin Park for Night 1 headliner, when that group has already played several big shows behind its June release Living Things, suggests a favor is being kindly paid by the L.A. band, beloved by KROQ's audience.

Clearly Green Day's routing was leading that trio to the AAC bash amid the first live promotional push behind the ¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré! trilogy thrill ride. Of course, their tour plans for the rest of the year were scrapped not long after Billie Joe Armstrong entered rehab in late September. (Feel better. Would like to see you at Coachella.)

It's still a long way from overtaking Coachella as Southern California's main multi-day music bash, but this year's 9th incarnation of FYF Fest, once more held at Los Angeles State Historic Park, made strides in both talent and organization to tout itself as L.A.'s premier annual music event.

Evidence: the outing is now two days long, houses a comedy/rave tent (about the size of Coachella's Gobi enclave), featured far more interactive art installations, and boasted a lineup of world-class stature.

That last bit was particularly prominent during Day 1, bolstered by performances from hardcore and punk rockers (true to the fest's DIY spirit) such as the Soft Pack, veteran Cali group Redd Kross and the re-solidified Quicksand, plus quite a few heavy-hitters, including Sleigh Bells, M83 and Sweden's recently reunited Refused.

For those in the know, that last band's crushing closing set was the main attraction. Aside from the incomparably raw power of its highly influential songs, mostly gleaned from 1998's The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts, this show was made even more significant and thrilling because it was Refused's first proper L.A. gig ever.

Details about the next FYF Fest have been revealed, and in addition to the event expanding to two days for the first time, the lineup is possibly the best the 9-year-old bash has ever pulled together.

Reunited Swedish hardcore group Refused (so powerful earlier this year at Coachella), French electro-rock ensemble M83, Zach Condon and his Southwestern band Beirut, beyond-dubstep innovator James Blake and the return of Conor Oberst's Desaparecidos project top a bill that runs even deeper with Indio-worthy acts.

For the fourth time, the festival, running noon-midnight each day, will take place Sept. 1-2 at the downtown Los Angeles State Historic Park, adjacent to Chinatown. Tickets, $77 for a weekend pass, go on sale Friday, June 22, at 5 p.m. via Ticketfly. Click here for more details.

I was well aware going into this that the chance to attend both weekends of Coachella was a distinct privilege, and I had no intention of squandering it. If you were in my shoes, wouldn't you also approach Coachella! Part Deux as an opportunity to catch performers you sacrificed the first go-round?

It was a perfect plan on paper. In practice ... well, let's just say there's no point in altering the ingredients to an already incredible recipe.

The main components for that mouthwatering mix were the Black Keys and Arctic Monkeys, each of whom delivered delightful encore sets. The former astounded with a surprise appearance from John Fogerty on a cover of the Band's "The Weight" (which I unfortunately missed, more on that later). The latter, though they didn't stray at all from last weekend's selections, proved that the ferocious flame burning beneath their newest, hard-edged tunes ("Evil Twin" and "R U Mine?" in particular) is far from blowing out.

If the BKs and AMs were the meat and potatoes of the musical meal I made for myself, then it was the bookending starters and dessert that lost flavor when I switched 'em up.

M83 last night, for instance, one of the most anticipated performances of the fest: We all wanted to see it, and most of us did, but only in portions -- the middle third, the final blast, whatever the opening was. Don't know myself; I was watching the Black Keys most of the time. Why do I think next weekend the problem will be that all of us want to see M83 and no one winds up properly witnessing the Keys? For what it's worth, what I saw from afar of very grateful Anthony Gonzalez and his band was convincingly rapturous, which is a lot more than I can say for the Rapture, who still do nothing for me.

Today has gotten crazier -- feel like I've been chasing something really great that keeps eluding me, and the hunt is punishing.

April 14th, 2012, 1:40 am by KEVIN FLINN, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

During the Great Friday Scheduling Debate of 2012, I decided to eschew M83 altogether and catch the first half of the Black Keys and the second half of Explosions in the Sky, both bands I've seen before (including at Coachella). While the Keys got out of the gate much, much stronger than last year (mostly thanks to a lack of sound problems that plagued last year's set), I still had to tear myself away from "Thickfreakness" to wander over to the Outdoor Theatre.

With Explosions, it doesn't so much matter what the songs are called. It's not even so much about the "songs," per se – what's important is the dynamics at play among the guys on stage. Call it what you will – dark ambient, shoegaze, post-rock – the tension/release that defines Explosions in the Sky was on full display, especially during the chord-heavy set-closer. As the heaviest rain of the day pelted both band and audience alike, Explosions alternated between heavy bombast and reflective quietude. It was gorgeous.

Friday's aforementioned scheduling problem could have been easily solved: Instead of putting one loud band (Black Keys) against another (Explosions), why not put Explosions in Mazzy Star's 8:50 time slot (the barely resuscitated L.A. outfit was tediously dull anyway) and have M83 in Refused's 11:20 Outdoor spot, rather than in the Mojave tent against the Keys and Explosions? Does that make too much sense or none at all?